Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

My mother ordered from Michgan Bulb. The plants were sent late, during the winter. None of the plants made it through the winter despite following careful planting and soil directions. A letter was sent to this company early this Spring requesting replacement of the entire order. To date there has been no word from them as to their intentions. I will never order from them again!

I guess we all learn the hard way! I just found this site looking for a way to get a catalog from Michigan Bulb, so I could order "replacement items". All the plants I ordered last spring never came up!! I did get through to the company only to be issued refund certificates to be used in a certain length of time. I've requested a new catalog three timed but haven't received even one!

I sent a small order to Michigan Bulb because my neighbor told me that she had great success with their plants. Personally, I think I got less than I bargained for. In any case, as I am a houseplant fanatic, I bought five philodendrons for $1.99 from a local store, paid $1 for pots, and have healthy little plants for less than what I paid at Michigan Bulb. I plan to purchase plants for my front and back years, but will not use Michigan Bulb.

In July l997 I placed an order to this company. The order came in several partial shipments, the last being in October. Every shipment came with a gimmick to order more so I could be eligible for a prize. After receiving the third shipment, I sent them a letter to let them know I was not happy with the way they were sending my shipments and to cut to the chase and complete my order. The bulbs and plants were planted as soon as they were received. This past spring I observed quite a few of the plants had not survived the winter but I allowed time to make sure that they were dead. More than half of the order I placed did not make it. I wrote to the company on April 30 and still have not received any response to replace my order. I intend to follow up with another letter to have these plants replaced. I also have no intention to ever place another order with these people.

I have been ordering from this company for almost two years. Lately I have become very dissatisfied. It started when I received 8 bonus ranunculus bulbs as part of an order; they were all moldy. I immediately filled out (correctly) the form to get a replacement, whichI never received, nor did I receive any correspondence on it. I sent back the bulbs to show that they were moldy. I didn't ask for a refund, just a replacement. I received nothing regarding this matter. It's been several months. It is very irritating that it is not possible to contact anyone by phone if there is a problem or question. Everything has to be dealt with in writing. I am totally disgruntled and frustrated with their way of doing business; most especially, that there is no real person to ever talk to! I just keep getting these endless contest notices, I win an occasional worthless "prize" as a ploy to get me to keep ordering more and more plants and bulbs that do not grow and do not bloom. Their stock is defective and moldy and I have not seen that they keep their word about any replacements in their so-called 'Lifetime Guarantee. Furthermore, I have complaints about the last three orders I placed. I have been very conscientious to plant all orders immediately and I have been following the appropriate planting guides exactly.After reading all the complaints posted on this website, you can rest assured I will never order anything else from this company, and I will make sure no one else I know ever does either! If I had known about this site earlier, I would have stopped ordering a long time ago.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb Co. a month or so ago. Since then I have received junk mail hawking sweepstakes 2 or 3 times a week! In addition, I have started to received junk mail from other sweepstakes places. I don't care about the order, and I will do what I can to cancel it, but this junk mail makes me mad.

I would like to add my warning to all unsuspecting gardeners (are there any left on this planet - well, there must be since this company remains in business), NOT TO ORDER FROM THIS FIRM. Plants are either undersized or sick. And what can you say about a purveyor of plants who tries to get to order via the sweepstakes route like Publishers Clearinghouse? My wife and I participate on several gardening forums on the internet and we try and steer people AWAY from this company at every opportunity. Also people should know that the same people who own Michigan Bulb also own Brecks, Springhill Nurseries and Stark Seed Co. So caveat emptor with those companies too.

I will never again order from Michigan Bulb. I ordered two fruit trees ($40) this spring 98' and waited months for my shipment. When the trees arrived, imagine my surprise to find 4 trees included in my order. After looking through all the excess paperwork included in the box I found a note that stated sorry this is not your fruit cocktail trees, but some sort of apple bush that should be planted in a pot. My friend, who I purchased the second fruit cocktail tree for scoffed saying "there is no such thing." I should have believed him in the first place it would have saved me $40 bucks.

In 1996 and 1997, I ordered over $200 in bulbs and plants. Only a few Begonia bulbs grew. The "rare" blue lilac was DOA, the Blue Girl rose never arrived. I sent a replacement order, and received nothing. Another time, I received four plastic pots as a substitution for the Cannas I ordered. Somehow, plastic pots do not look nearly as nice in my garden as the Cannas would have. I am bombarded with mail and sweepstakes come-ons from this disreputable company to this day.

I wish I had read articles about the Michigan Bulb Co. before I ordered from them. We received only a partial shipment which was pushed in a small box. One small Japanese Maple was actually bent in half. Now they don't know who I am. I've wasted my money.

For 15 years I had ordered and received plants from Michigan Bulb, but in the last two years all my plants have been dying, even the replacements they sent me died. I am an avid gardener and plant according to all the correct methods for each plant. I have not been able to reach customer service at Michigan Bulb for over 3 months now. I have placed my very last order with them.

HERE IN EAST TEXAS WE ALSO HAVE BEEN BITTEN BY THE MBC BUG!! For the last few years we have ordered plants & other items only to be disappointed by the products we received. Don't bother to ask about the bombardment of sweepstakes!

Being a new gardener and excited about providing my family with a number of delicious fruits and vegetables from my own garden, I was quite disappointed with the quality of MBC's merchandise. Following every instruction to theletter and consulting friends who've been gardening much longer than I have, I was dismayed at the lack of proliferance in my garden. I would rather buy from a local nurserythan do business with MBC because then I would have some recourse. I have a number of "credits" available to me from MBC, yet I don't know what I could possibly purchase that would satisfy my newly acquired suspicious nature.According to the Planting Guide and national planting map, living in the southwest allows me to grow a majority of the plants offered in the catalog. I don't believe the map is altogether truthful, nor do I feel comfortable with purchasing any live plants from MBC. Therefore, I believe flower bulbs would be the best gamble for me. Next Spring, I'll start my garden from seed to ensure the failure is all my own, if it does indeed fail. I have a lack of tolerance for unkept promises and even less tolerance for wasting my valuable time.

I ordered bushes; they were DOA. I ordered tulip bulbs; never arrived. All the free bulbs were planted, but never grew. Furthermore, if I am told one more time that I have won a "first-round", "bonus", or "special" prize, I think I'll go to Grand Rapids and start a bon fire with their mailings on their doorstep!

I wish that I had looked at this web page before I ordered from Michigan Bulb, but I didn't. I did not place a very big order, but $40.00 is still big enough to have alerted me to the fact that this company is not reliable. I sent them a check with my order on 3/31/98, which they cashed within 10 days of my sending it to them, then they proceeded to lose the order. I have sent them a letter with a copy of my check front and back on 6/17/98.

I have ordered from Michigan bulb company also; NEVER again. My order took 3 months to get to me, it came in 3 partial orders, most of it dead which I have returned with no response from them or replacement of the dead ones. I have written 4 letters in the past 2 months, made several phone calls (which the line was always busy), still no response. I advise anyone not to do business with them. Even all the free bulbs they sent with my order were soft & have not came up. I think this is a very poor company to do business with…

My husband and I received Michigan Bulb promotional and sales material through the mail and were excited to see the "Chinese Wall" hedge we wanted for our front yard privacy hedge. We ordered 30 hedges in April so that we could plant them in time for good growth this year. In June, after Michigan Bulb had kept our money for two months, we finally received the package we had anxiously awaited. My husband began preparing the thirty holes along the street side and BOY, WERE WE SHOCKED when we learned that Michigan Bulb had unilaterally substituted18 POPLAR trees (that grow to 75 feet) for the three -six foot Chinese Wall Hedges we had purchased two months prior. Needless to say, we were extremely disappointed and have yet to receive a refund from Michigan Bulb. We were completely unable to use the Poplar trees. Moreover, we have lost another growth year for our front privacy hedge we had been planning for the past year.

We ordered 20 hedges and 5 of them died so I have tried to contact this company and I have not got any response. They still owe us 10 more hedges and the 5 that died they said that they would replace. This was over a year ago and we have not heard any response. I have paid for these hedges and I would really like to receive this order. They have also been sending us things in the mail about us winning money and it is nothing but a hoax. I am very disappointed with Michigan Bulb and I will never order another thing from them.

I wish I had known about this FAQ long ago! To say that my experience with MBC has been mediocre is an understatement. None of my rosebushes were true to name (although they did survive - unlike the rest of my order.) None of the free bonuses came up. My husband is an avid gardener/landscaper. He has never had a success rate as low as the one we experienced with MBC. Like some of the others on this FAQ, we received a replacement voucher. Why would I want a voucher for more dead plants? I am trying to extract a refund from them.

I ordered some bulbs from them via advertising I read in the "coupon" insert in the paper. I ordered some crocusus' and stargazer lilies. After about ten weeks I received "autumn saffron" (5 bulbs). I don't know what these are. I planted them and they seem to be sprouting. There was nothing in the "planting guide" info they sent that gave a clue as to where and when to plant them for the best results. The best thing, though, is that I received the order in two large packages, only five bulbs, and each of the packages had a sticker indicating "partial order". Like others who have voiced their concern, I was deluged with contest materials which stopped after about three to four weeks when I didn't order any further product. MBC advertises nationwide as far as I know. One would think they could be successful if they wanted to get their act together. I feel that I bought $35.00 dollars worth of education dealing with these bozos. Additionally, I strongly recommend that anyone wanting to purchase bulbs, seeds, shrubbery, etc, do so from a local nursery or gardencenter. I do now and I'm quite satisfied.

I have ordered many products since we moved in our new home in February 1997, but the plants were dead on arrival and the bulbs either never came up or croaked upon breaking the soil. Part of the problem may be that we live in San Antonio Texas and they send via bulk mail or slow carrier pigeon. After a few hours in a 100 degree plus mailbox, the products don't stand much of a chance. They are now sending replacements, but travel time to my mailbox is still in excess of two weeks so I'm still tossing out dead plants.

I did get really nice rose bushes from Michigan Bulb. But I tried to order my tomato plants from them. I got things that looked like twigs. I wrote to them asking for a full refund. Am still waiting. I will call. Thanks for the number.

The following letter was sent to MBC; the writer gave permission for it to be included in the comments: I am writing for my mother, who has been ordering at my request for some time now, (and hers.) I am writing to say that while the shipments we received are great, and the plants are wonderful, we will most likely order again. We have not received three of the things we have ordered, (I have tried to call on the phone but to no avail - the line is always busy and we do not own a touch tone phone.) The packages sent were marked partial shipment but it has been more than a month and we still have not received these items.My mother also is waiting for the rings she ordered thru Michigan Bulb (the jewelry pamphlet that was sent.) Please send these items as soon as possible; I believe she meant something she ordered to be a gift and wants it in time.All in all, the things that were sent have arrived unharmed and are doing well in the garden (which is saying a lot considering the type of soil we have… ) The rest of the things we didn't get, we ordered at the same time as those.Thank you very much for your attention to my letter; please write to me.

My father ordered tomato "plants" on March 31, 1998 and received seeds with a planting kit the first week of June. He calculates his first harvest should hit sometime in October. Of course our first frost should be about the same time.

I placed a legitimate order with this company. They sent back that I had not sent enough money and needed more. Since this was a small order, I did so. I have not received any plants or notices of any kind. There does not appear to be any way to contact them. I sure will be skeptical about ordering any plants from any company in the future.

They have a wonderful catalog illustrated with photos for all kinds of landscaping ideas from A to Z. I think they are also operating international operations. They unquestionably guarantee all their products with no hassles. Truly a great addition to your catalog lists. I find now that I must get one of their catalogs to send to my sister living in Bogota, Colombia (South America). Two years ago I purchased a considerable amount of seeds and other myriad quantities of bushes, flowers, grass seeds, gardening and landscaping. They all were delivered "live" and I never lost a one. This was quite an accomplishment since I wasn't sure of what I was doing; but with their friendly support and services I can proudly say that I was always pleased with dealing with this company. They are real PROS at what they do.

I've ordered many things from the Michigan Bulb Company and I'm sure they will all be wonderful items with exquisite quality and value. I've also gotten my father in the sweepstakes. We've had to order nothing to still play. Here's how, just look in the rules! It says NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO PLAY. Instead, you write on a card your name, address, etc. Anyway, I'm pleased with Michigan Bulb.

I have ordered from Michigan Bulb Co. for three consecutive years and have had a great experience in doing so. Yes, some of my plants ended up failing, more to my own lack of gardening experience than the fault of the company. However, what did grow was all beautiful and bloomed profusely! I do have two slight complaints, though:When I wrote to them about one order in particular in which none of the plants (cinnamon ferns) survived or even came up, they neverresponded, let alone sent replacements. And the company has a tendency to substitute plants (not what you ordered) for items in your order. I did find that I was quite happy with some of these substitutes, but for other, cheap, weed-like plants such as oxalis ( a very popular substitute) I'd rather just have my money back.I do intend to place an order with them again, because I've had great luck and have been very happy with my bulbs and have found Michigan Bulb to be the least expensive place to purchase them.

I just wanted whoever see this to know that not all experiences with mail order catalogs are bad. I also ordered from Michigan Bulb - some of my plants did not grow - they were healthy when they arrived - but Michigan Bulb sent me a refund for the ones that did not grow. Everyone's experience is different.

I ordered around nine rose bushes about 2 years ago and lost a few of them and Michigan Bulb replaced them, no questions asked. And the rose bushes I still have are beautiful they are over 6 feet tall. I would order from them again. They are cheaper than getting any plants or flowers from a nursery.

Four years ago I ordered from them. Since then I've received some very good plants & bulbs. Only one plant did not grow as promised, and with only one, call the plant was replaced. I didn't even have to furnish proof that the plant did not grow! As far as I'm concerned Michigan Bulb has delivered on their promises for over four consecutive years which makes them a company worth dealing with.

Being retired, Michigan Bulb sounded great. I didn't expect everything to grow. I didn't receive anything this time and every time before they were dead or dying. I thought that I would give them one more try you'd think I would learn. Sure is a disappointment. I too was supposedly a prizewinner but really didn't believe that. Live and learn.

I ordered my Mother's day gifts from them. The first part of the order arrived & immediately died. The second half of the order is still to be seen. I have contacted them twice & not heard back. I am so upset. I will go get my Mother something else tomorrow (until today, I actually thought that they might HANDLE the problem, I no longer believe that!).

I wish I had seen your comments before I placed a $60+ order this spring MBC. Too late, I recognized their real interest is prize promotions like Publishers Clearing House, rather than quality nursery products. Their products are the smallest and youngest I have ever seen. The promotional bulbs (complimentary with minimum value orders) are the size of a pea and most were dried up and dead. I've canceled the remaining items and asked for a refund. No response, yet, after three weeks. I strongly recommend you buy nothing from this firm. Any hardware store, local nursery, or discount store I've been in would never sell anything to tiny, young, and nonviable as this company does. Believe me they are no bargain.

I'm glad I only responded to an offer in a magazine and only ordered the 3 promotional Tri-Color Butterfly Bushes for $9.88 and paid by check instead of credit card. I have since received several offers and "junk" mailings from them, but have yet to receive the merchandise. Add me to the incredibly long list of unsatisfied customers!!!

Only one word to describe this company...BAD. I ordered $70 of miscellaneous bulbs from them. When they came they were either so moldly they had to be tossed, or else they were so dried out they would never have sprouted. Once you are on their mailing list, it is nearly impossible to get off of it. I finally resorted to calling them and demanding them to remove my name from their list. This company is horrible to deal with.

I thought I learned my lesson last year when my Astilbe and Cinnamon Ferns failed to produce so much as a peek over the dirt. But no, I had to order again. I figured it was worth the risk since it was so cheap, but again I was wrong. Last year, not a single "bonus" bulb did anything. Some foliage, no flower. I didn't even bother planting this year's bonus. I also received ivy that died. Never again. I'll stick to the local nurseries from now on. They guarantee their products and they aren't THAT expensive.

I have read all your comments and I wish I had also found this sooner. I have written a letter to Michigan Bulb sending back and canceling my order. I order a collection of shade plants for my garden and they have sent replacements for my order. Instead of receiving 25 different bulbs I received all of one kind. I like a variety and this was not appreciated. I also ordered some bleeding hearts; out of the six I received, two of them were full of mildew. I hope you don't mind but I have printed up your letters and am sending them to the Company so they now how they have disappointed people. Maybe they'll get the hint and start improving their shipment.

I have had several orders with Michigan Bulb Company, being a first-time homeowner and landscaping two-thirds of an acre, I though ordering from Michigan Bulb would be simple and easy. I first ordered tulips and daffodil bulbs. Many of the colors that I ordered were replaced with colors I already had, and the daffodils I ordered were replaced with a completely different color. I still planted them and most of them came up.I then took a chance and order the 9 piece rose collection. My roses are still dead looking sticks, some show a slight chance that they may start growing, but so far an inch of growth on one rose bush does look like they will make it. I was searching on the internet for a web page that I might email them and ask them what I could do and came across this page, now I know there is no hope is getting anything resolved. I guess I will start searching the nurseries for replacement roses one at a time and the sad thing here is that I have passed their catalog on to two of my co-workers and they have ordered several things. Now I will have to go to work and give them the bad news that their plants may not grow and there is no compensation from Michigan Bulb even though their ad states otherwise. Lessons learned - I will probably never ordered from another catalog again.